5.  The applicant was born in 1939 and lives in Samara.
6.  At the material time the applicant was an employee of a municipal company, Arsenal (“the Arsenal company”, «Муниципальное предприятие «Арсенал») and worked as a store keeper at a car park operated by the company.
7.  The company was founded in 1996 by the administration of the Oktyabrskiy District of Samara. It was created as a result of the re-organisation of a “self-supporting enterprise S. at the [local] Department of the Interior” («хозрасчетное предприятие ... при УВД ...»). According to an extract from the company’s articles of association (§§ 1.3 and 1.4) submitted by the Government, the company exercised the right of operational and financial control («право хозяйственного ведения») in respect of the assets allotted to it. It was responsible for the entirety of its assets. The founder of the company was not liable for the company’s debts, and the company was not liable for the founder’s debts.
8.  In reply to a specific request by the Court as regards the functions performed by the company, the Government submitted that, according to its articles of association, the Arsenal company was competent to provide a wide range of services, including the organisation of car pounds and car parks, as well as legal, medical and tourism services. It could operate in the areas of scientific, agricultural or consumer-goods production, and participate in commercial and other activities. It was competent to plan its activities on its own (§§ 2.1 and 7 of the articles of association).
9.  According to the applicant, the company only operated a car park at Novo‑Vokzalnaya Street in Samara and did not perform any of the other activities mentioned in the articles of association. It had the same legal address as the local Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate (“the Road Inspectorate”). The car park consisted of a car pound – a secure storage area for vehicles that had been stolen, abandoned, or parked illegally or had been involved in an accident or a crime. The company’s only function was to ensure storage of vehicles that had been impounded pursuant to the Road Inspectorate’s orders. The company’s employees registered the cars on arrival using the official forms of the inspectorate. The tariffs for storing the vehicles were determined by the inspectorate. The company could return an impounded vehicle to its owner only if authorised to do so by a road inspector. Free parking spaces could be rented for a daily tariff. The applicant submitted a reorganisation agreement of 1996, a sample of a “vehicle return” form containing a road inspector’s authorisation to return a car, extracts from local authorities’ decisions designating the car park as a pound, extracts from local newspapers and other documents in support of his submissions. According to an information note of 21 February 2002 drawn up by the Samara Committee of the Federal Land Registry Service («Федеральная служба земельного кадастра»), between 1996 and 29 November 2001 the Arsenal company had rented three more car pounds.
10.  On 3 December 1998, pursuant to a decision by the head of the town administration, the Committee for the Administration of Property of the Town of Samara (“the Committee”) ordered the liquidation of the company. The decision of the head of the town administration was dated 13 November 1998 and concerned several municipal companies operating in Samara. It cited as reasons for the liquidation the “unsatisfactory results of the [companies’] economic activity, inefficient use of the municipal property ... as well as the absence of social importance of the municipal companies ... for the town’s population”.
11.  On 22 June 2000 the Committee decided to withdraw the assets operated by the company, namely the car park where the applicant worked and a VAZ car, and ordered the transfer of those assets to another municipal company, “the Housing Exchange Bureau”. By an agreement dated 1 August 2000 that legal entity accepted the transfer of financial responsibility for the car park from the Arsenal company.
12.  On 31 July 2000 the applicant was dismissed from his job in view of the liquidation of the company. He brought proceedings against his former employer seeking damages in connection with his dismissal.
13.  By a judgment of 9 November 2001 the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Samara (“the District Court”) established that the company had still not been wound up and therefore the applicant’s dismissal had been unlawful. The court then granted the applicant’s claims in part and awarded him 15,644 Russian roubles (RUB). On 22 January 2002 the Samara Regional Court (“the Regional Court”) upheld the judgment of 9 November 2001 on appeal, having increased the award in his favour to RUB 18,033.70 (667 euros (EUR)).
14.  At some point the local branch of the federal tax office applied to the commercial court with a request to declare the company insolvent. On 24 January 2002 the Commercial Court of the Samara Region declared the Arsenal company insolvent within the special simplified insolvency procedure applicable to the de facto absent debtors (see paragraph 29 below). Liquidation proceedings were instituted for a period of six months and a liquidator was appointed.
15.  A list of the claims made by the company’s creditors was drawn up. It consisted of creditors’ claims at the second, fourth and fifth level. The applicant’s claims were listed as second-level claims.
16.  On 8 February 2002 the enforcement proceedings in respect of the judgment of 9 November 2001, as upheld on 22 January 2002, were commenced. The bailiffs sent several requests to the domestic authorities in order to verify whether the debtor company had any assets and also issued a written warning urging the company to comply with the domestic judgment.
In February 2002 they established, after inspection of the premises at the company’s legal address, that the company had no assets at that address. On 26 February 2002 the local department of the Road Inspectorate informed the bailiffs that the company did not have any cars in its possession. On 12 March 2002 the bank where the company had set up its business account replied to the bailiffs that the company’s balance was RUB 0.
17.  On 14 March 2002 the Commercial Court of the Samara Region informed the bailiffs’ service of the decision of 24 January 2002 to set the liquidation procedure in motion. On 27 March 2002 the bailiffs forwarded the writs of execution to the liquidator.
18.  On 29 March 2002 the applicant requested the District Court to order an injunction of a VAZ car in order to ensure the execution of the judgment in his favour. He argued that in accordance with the decision of 22 June 2000 (see paragraph 11 above) the car should have been transferred to the different company along with the other assets of the Arsenal company. However, the car had not been included in the list of assets accepted on 1 August 2000 by the “Housing Exchange Bureau”. Therefore, he concluded, the car should have remained with the Arsenal company and could be subject to an injunction. On 4 April 2002 the District Court accepted the complaint. According to the applicant, no reply followed.
19.  On 12 September 2002 the Commercial Court of the Samara Region established that the liquidation of the Arsenal company had been accomplished. No assets had been revealed. The overall amount of the company’s debt totalled RUB 556,648.40. The defendant’s assets were insufficient to satisfy the creditors’ claims, including the applicant’s ones. They were therefore considered as settled.
20.  On 24 October 2002 the District Court, following the bailiffs’ request under Article 439 § 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as in force at the material time (see paragraph 30 below), ordered that the enforcement proceedings be discontinued. On 25 October 2002 the bailiffs terminated the proceedings. On 4 February 2003 the Regional Court quashed the decision of 24 October 2002 since it had been taken in the applicant’s absence and remitted the case for a fresh examination.
21.  On 19 March 2003 the District Court took a decision reproducing in essence that of 24 October 2002. In particular, the court observed that on 12 September 2002 the insolvency proceedings in respect of the municipal company had been discontinued, no assets of the company had been revealed and the company had been declared insolvent. Referring to Article 439 § 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure the court again ordered that the enforcement proceedings be discontinued. The parties were present. The bailiffs’ maintained their position and the applicant left the issue to the discretion of the first-instance court.
22.  The applicant appealed against the decision arguing, in particular, that the Committee (see paragraph 10 above) should be involved in the case as a respondent, and that his request for an injunction had remained unanswered.
23.  On 20 May 2003 the Regional Court examined and dismissed the applicant’s appeal. The court reiterated that by the decision of 12 September 2002 the Commercial Court had ordered the termination of the insolvency procedure in respect of the company. The court further reproduced the Commercial Court’s findings as regards the debtor company’s lack of assets and confirmed that in those circumstances the enforcement proceedings were to be discontinued. The court examined the applicant’s request to summon the Committee as a respondent and rejected it because the proceedings in question had not concerned the Committee in any way. It accordingly upheld the first-instance decision.
24.  According to the applicant, he was only informed of the outcome of his appeal in a letter from the District Court dated 3 November 2003. Enclosed, he found a letter of 21 April 2003 by which he had been notified that the examination of his appeal had been scheduled for 20 May 2003. Allegedly, he did not receive the letter of 21 April 2003 until 3 November 2003.
25.  From several replies the applicant received from the authorities between 2003 and 2006 to his numerous complaints, it followed that on 21 April 2003 he had been duly notified of the hearing of 20 May 2003 by letter no. 1861. He was also provided with a copy of a handwritten note from the District Court’s registry confirming that the summons had been duly sent to him.
26.  By letter of 13 June 2006 the District Court acknowledged that on 21 April 2003 the disputed notification had been sent to the applicant by ordinary mail but to the wrong flat and therefore had not been received by the addressee. The court specified that it was not in a position to send notifications by registered mail, due to a shortage of relevant funds.